Two Libertarians file in Los Alamos County election race

The Los Alamos County ballot gained two more names on June 25, tightening the math for November and putting a Libertarian challenger into both a countywide administrative race and a crowded council field.

James Wernicke of Los Alamos filed for county assessor, where he will face Democrat Jeff Casalina in the Nov. 3 general election. Chris Luchini of White Rock filed for County Council, joining a race that already had four Democrats, Steven Lynne, Theresa Cull, David Hampton and Melanee Hand, along with Republicans Jason Chappell and Eric Stromberg. Four council seats are to be filled, so every additional candidate changes how voters may divide support across the at-large ballot.

The filing day covered minor-party, independent, write-in and judicial-retention candidates and ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Los Alamos County Clerk’s Office. That local deadline matters because it is the point at which the general-election field stops being shaped only by the June 2 primary and starts taking its final form for county voters.

Los Alamos County Council has seven members elected at large to staggered four-year terms, and county voters also choose the county clerk, county assessor and municipal and probate judges every two years. In a small electorate, even one new candidacy can sharpen debate over who controls County Hall and how the county approaches spending, planning and basic services.

Wernicke has said his interest in the assessor’s office came from research into Los Alamos housing, land use and property valuation. He also has argued that the office should be seen as an administrative and technical post, not a policymaking one. That distinction matters in Los Alamos County, where the assessor values property for taxation and also tracks ownership changes, parcel boundaries, property characteristics, exemptions and property-tax relief.

The county says the assessor’s office handles tax assessments, notices of valuation, tax calculations and collections, property search tools and reports to state agencies. It operates under state oversight from New Mexico’s Property Tax Division, making the race relevant not just to tax bills but to the machinery that underpins them.

For council, the new filing adds another layer to a race that already reflects the county’s 2026 semi-open primary, which let Decline to State and independent voters choose one major-party primary. The general election is now set, and the Libertarian filings ensure that the final November ballot will reach beyond the two major parties in a county where local government decisions are felt quickly and directly.